12. Comic Intermezzo - San Jose State University · COMIC INTERMEZZO Pergolesi’s two-act La Serva...

COMIC INTERMEZZOINTERMEZZI are comic 2-act interludes

sung betweenthe 3 acts of an opera seria

Intermezzi originate fromthe Renaissance INTERMEDIO,

the musical numbers sung between actsof a spoken theatrical play

COMIC INTERMEZZOIn their original form

an INTERMEZZO was composed for an OPERA SERIA

and was thematically related tothe main opera.

COMIC INTERMEZZO

COMIC INTERMEZZOPergolesi’s two-act La Serva Padrona,

was performed betweenthe three acts of his opera seria,

Il Prigioner Superboin 1733.

COMIC INTERMEZZOThe traditions of Commedia dell’Arte,

Italian improvised comic theater,serve as models for character types and plots

in the intermezzo

1725-1750���“Golden Age” of Intermezzo

COMMEDIA dell’ARTEARLECCHINO Probably the most famous of Commedia characters, Arlecchino is a good-hearted and well-intentioned buffoon. He can be crafty and clever, but is never malicious.

COMMEDIA dell’ARTECOLOMBINA is a clever female servant with a keen and active wit and able to hold her own in every situation and emerge triumphant from the most complicated intrigues. A country girl, she takes a frank attitude towards men and sex.

COMMEDIA dell’ARTEPANTALONE The Old Man, often a rich miser, though he pretends to poverty. He suspects everyone of trying to dupe him (he is usually right) even as he plans his own schemes.

COMMEDIA dell’ARTECAPITANO is a swaggering braggart soldier, usually foreign (and sometimes pretending to be of noble blood). Capitano boasts of great prowess at both love and war, but is in reality an abject failure at both.

COMIC INTERMEZZOGiovanni Battista PERGOLESI (1710-1736)

Writes intermezzo La Serva Padrona in 1733

COMIC INTERMEZZOLA SERVA PADRONA

[The Maid Mistress]

“Intermezzo Buffo in Due Atti” (1733)

Libretto by G. A. FedericoMusic by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi

COMIC INTERMEZZOLA SERVA PADRONA

Plot of servant girl who tricks her employer into agreeing to marry her.

COMIC INTERMEZZOAn old Commedia plot

There are 3 characters—

UBERTO: bassSERPINA: soprano

VESPONE: a mute mimed role

Based on Commedia character types

COMIC INTERMEZZOThe performers in intermezzi tended to be

“ACTOR-SINGERS” rather than just “singers,”

and the orchestra tends to play along with the singer’s melody line.

COMIC INTERMEZZOLa Serva is almost immediately done

independently of its opera seriaIn 1746 and 1752 performed in Paris: sets off

Guerre des Bouffons [War of the Comedians), a pamphlet war in over the values of French and

Italian opera

COMIC INTERMEZZOSmall orchestra, small cast

(usually only three or so characters)

No overture—no need for oneThe surrounding opera seria

already has an overture

COMIC INTERMEZZOUses of the BASS VOICE

for male protagonists

NO CASTRATI

COMIC INTERMEZZOWhile opere serie tend to be

very serious and promote social stability (“the king is good,” etc.)

The themes of intermezzi tend to beSOCIALLY SUBVERSIVE

(“people in power are stupid”)

The subject matter is bourgeois rather than aristocratic

COMIC INTERMEZZO

SECCO RECITATIVE and short DA CAPO ARIAS

Unlike opera seria,singers address the audience

to get their collusion

COMIC INTERMEZZOTexts usually set SYLLABICALLY

rather than melismatically,as in opera seria

Much TEXT REPETITION—but not as in opera seria—

For comic effect: “Sì, sì!” “No, no!” “Sì, sì!” “No, no!”

COMIC INTERMEZZOEach act culminates with a

DUETor

ENSEMBLE

COMIC INTERMEZZO

Musically, intermezzi were in the newer and lighter-textured

STYLE GALANT rather than the

dense Baroque style of opera seria.

COMIC INTERMEZZO

The STYLE GALANT [Gallant Style]

A New Musical Style that emerges in the 1720s

STYLE GALLANTTHIN TEXTURES

Melody and accompaniment, Contrasts with the contrapuntal density

of late Baroque style.

Accompaniment figures are usually of“ALBERTI BASS”

developed around 1730s.

STYLE GALLANTSLOW HARMONIC MOVEMENT

Contrasts withthe fast harmonic movement

of late Baroque style

STYLE GALLANTEmphasis on MAJOR MODE keys,

rather than minor.

Melodies featurefeminine cadences

triplets figuressighing motives

COMIC INTERMEZZOThe EMPFINDSAMER STIL

[Sensitive Style] is a German offshoot in the 1740s

of the Style Galant

COMIC INTERMEZZOUberto: Accompanied Recitative

and Da Capo Aria:

“Ah, quanto mi sta male…Son imbrogliato io già”